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ENLARGE
Phoenix School students Guadalupe Salazar, left, and Nye Beamer, both 16, are going to Africa to volunteer at the Rift Valley Children’s Village, an orphanage in Tanzania, in April. The teenagers wanted to do something to help African children after watching the documentary ‘Invisible Children.’
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ENLARGE
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Alexis Davis, 7, is caught by Guadalupe Salazaras as she pretends to fall at the Boys & Girls Club in Roseburg recently. Both Salazar and Nye Beamer are volunteering at the club once a week so they can learn how to work with children in preparation for their trip to Tanzania.
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ENLARGE
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Phoenix School student Nye Beamer, left, teaches Robert Hembree, right, and Skyler Trent, both 7 and from Roseburg, how to say rock, paper, scissors in Japanese, as they play the game while he volunteers at the Boys & Girls Club in Roseburg recently. Both he and Guadalupe Salazar are volunteering at the club once a week so they can learn how to work with children in preparation for their trip to Tanzania.
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There’s an unexpected passion in Guadalupe Salazar’s voice when she talks about Africa.
She’s just said she didn’t go to class much at Phoenix School last year and she’s done a lot of “stupid stuff,” including drugs.
But then the 16-year-old starts talking about a documentary she watched about northern Ugandan children.
“These kids that we’re hearing about in Africa, their lives are so much worse, you know,” she says. “When I was doing all this stupid stuff, I was provided a house and food and clothes, and I just didn’t want to take it. I wanted to be stupid and run around with my friends and get in trouble.
“And these kids have no other choice but to run around and be stupid because they have nobody that takes care of them,” Guadalupe continues. “They have nobody to teach them right from wrong. From birth — some of their parents die at birth or shortly after, so they’re left on their own and they don’t know what to do. They’re just walking around trying to find a dead animal to eat, you know.”
She repeats the phrase: “They don’t know what to do.”
<b>Learning to Care</b>
Guadalupe watched the documentary, “Invisible Children,” in instructor Jennifer Jackson’s class, and so did Nye Beamer, also 16. The film follows children in northern Uganda who spend their nights walking or huddled together to avoid The Lord’s Republican Army, which will force the children into military service in the rebel army.
“We saw a lot of horrible images on it, their poverty,” Nye said, “and their lack of resources.”
She’s just said she didn’t go to class much at Phoenix School last year and she’s done a lot of “stupid stuff,” including drugs.
But then the 16-year-old starts talking about a documentary she watched about northern Ugandan children.
“These kids that we’re hearing about in Africa, their lives are so much worse, you know,” she says. “When I was doing all this stupid stuff, I was provided a house and food and clothes, and I just didn’t want to take it. I wanted to be stupid and run around with my friends and get in trouble.
“And these kids have no other choice but to run around and be stupid because they have nobody that takes care of them,” Guadalupe continues. “They have nobody to teach them right from wrong. From birth — some of their parents die at birth or shortly after, so they’re left on their own and they don’t know what to do. They’re just walking around trying to find a dead animal to eat, you know.”
She repeats the phrase: “They don’t know what to do.”
<b>Learning to Care</b>
Guadalupe watched the documentary, “Invisible Children,” in instructor Jennifer Jackson’s class, and so did Nye Beamer, also 16. The film follows children in northern Uganda who spend their nights walking or huddled together to avoid The Lord’s Republican Army, which will force the children into military service in the rebel army.
“We saw a lot of horrible images on it, their poverty,” Nye said, “and their lack of resources.”
Both Nye and Guadalupe went separately to Jackson and to teacher Thomas McGregor, saying they wanted to do something for children like those they’d seen in the movie.
“They said they were going to be supportive on whatever we want to do,” Nye said. “And at first we just wanted to send over supplies and stuff. And then we got really wrapped up into it and decided later on that we wanted to go to Africa.”
<b>Planning a Trip</b>
There were many reasons, including a price tag of $15,000, why taking two teenagers to Africa would be impractical at best and impossible at worst.
But Jackson and McGregor didn’t see it that way.
“We have two youth of Douglas County living below the poverty line that are wanting to spend time for those living in poverty and in another country, and I think that’s what it comes down to,” Jackson said.
So Jackson and McGregor looked for a place where Americans can volunteer and found Rift Valley Children’s Village in Tanzania. Currently 41 children live in three children’s houses in the village, and the Maine-based Tanzanian Children’s Fund is building more houses to give shelter to 77 children. Tanzania’s population has one of the five highest rates of AIDS in the world, according to the nonprofit organization, and most of the children at the orphanage have lost their parents to the disease.
Village workers ask volunteers to help with a variety of tasks, from tutoring to organizing play to bathing the children.
<b>MAKING CHANGES</b>
Nye said he hopes the trip will change his outlook on life, and McGregor is already seeing a difference.
“They said they were going to be supportive on whatever we want to do,” Nye said. “And at first we just wanted to send over supplies and stuff. And then we got really wrapped up into it and decided later on that we wanted to go to Africa.”
<b>Planning a Trip</b>
There were many reasons, including a price tag of $15,000, why taking two teenagers to Africa would be impractical at best and impossible at worst.
But Jackson and McGregor didn’t see it that way.
“We have two youth of Douglas County living below the poverty line that are wanting to spend time for those living in poverty and in another country, and I think that’s what it comes down to,” Jackson said.
So Jackson and McGregor looked for a place where Americans can volunteer and found Rift Valley Children’s Village in Tanzania. Currently 41 children live in three children’s houses in the village, and the Maine-based Tanzanian Children’s Fund is building more houses to give shelter to 77 children. Tanzania’s population has one of the five highest rates of AIDS in the world, according to the nonprofit organization, and most of the children at the orphanage have lost their parents to the disease.
Village workers ask volunteers to help with a variety of tasks, from tutoring to organizing play to bathing the children.
<b>MAKING CHANGES</b>
Nye said he hopes the trip will change his outlook on life, and McGregor is already seeing a difference.
On the Web ...
To donate, learn more and read blogs from Nye Beamer and Guadalupe Salazar, visit www.phoenix-advi.com.
<b>How You Can Help</b> Phoenix School teachers Jennifer Jackson and Thomas McGregor formed Adventure Discovery Volunteer International to take students overseas to volunteer. The first trip is to Rift Valley Children’s Village in Tanzania with students Nye Beamer and Guadalupe Salazar. They have raised about $9,000 of the $15,000 needed for their April 7-May 2 trip. Donations are tax-deductible and can be made online. Checks should be made out to Phoenix School and designated for ADVI. Organizers are also holding a fundraiser March 8 at Wildlife Safari. Representatives from the nonprofit organization Invisible Children will also be at the event, which will feature African cuisine and a showing of the film “Invisible Children.” Information: www.phoenix-advi.com or 440-1108. |
“This is the tip of the iceberg for these kids,” McGregor said. “The level of maturity I’ve seen increase in them in the past few weeks is phenomenal.”
Both have found a purpose for their education.
“I had a hard time at other schools,” Nye said. “I got in trouble a lot, fights, and all the little stuff like that.”
When he came to Phoenix, he wasn’t very motivated.
“This school was nice and all, but they didn’t really give me anything to want to come,” he said. “And now I’m going to Africa. I didn’t realize how much school is helping you. And they want to make you happy, and they want to work with you, not against you.”
Now Nye wants to go to college, and he appreciates his education, knowing that people in other parts of the world would be grateful for it.
“I realize that schooling is the opportunity to a better life,” he said.
Guadalupe’s father died about a year ago, and she’s technically homeless. She’s been living with the parents of a friend, the same friend who helped her quit using methamphetamine.
Both have found a purpose for their education.
“I had a hard time at other schools,” Nye said. “I got in trouble a lot, fights, and all the little stuff like that.”
When he came to Phoenix, he wasn’t very motivated.
“This school was nice and all, but they didn’t really give me anything to want to come,” he said. “And now I’m going to Africa. I didn’t realize how much school is helping you. And they want to make you happy, and they want to work with you, not against you.”
Now Nye wants to go to college, and he appreciates his education, knowing that people in other parts of the world would be grateful for it.
“I realize that schooling is the opportunity to a better life,” he said.
Guadalupe’s father died about a year ago, and she’s technically homeless. She’s been living with the parents of a friend, the same friend who helped her quit using methamphetamine.
“I try to keep my head together,” Guadalupe said. “Before it just didn’t matter what happened in my life; I didn’t care. And now all I can think about is my future.”
<b>RAISING FUNDS</b>
Guadalupe and Nye have both put some of their own money toward the trip. Guadalupe had a job and is now looking for another, while Nye is working at Denny’s.
They started savings accounts through Umpqua Community Development Corp.’s DreamSavers program, where their money is matched with $2 for every $1 they save. They’ve written letters and applied for grants.
They sell candy and 50-50 raffle tickets every day at school, and Phoenix students are contributing change and helping with other fundraisers, even though they don’t benefit from the project.
In March, Wildlife Safari will host a fundraiser with African cuisine and a showing of the film, “Invisible Children.”
<b>GETTING AN EDUCATION</b>
Jackson and McGregor were determined that going to Tanzania would be more than volunteering or tourism.
So Nye and Guadalupe have been researching Africa in general and Tanzania in particular, and they’re starting to learn Swahili so they can communicate. They volunteer once a week at the Boys & Girls Club so they can learn how to work with children. They’re writing blogs on a Web site, and they’ll continue to do so during the trip. Nye and McGregor are planning to make a film, too.
The students have spent countless hours on a PowerPoint presentation they’ve shown at Phoenix and other schools.
Before they faced an audience, however, they had to take criticism from McGregor.
“We had a lot of good training from Thomas and Jenn,” Nye said, “very nitpicky. We have to look straight at the crowd, just little things like that.”
“More eye contact,” Guadalupe added, “speak louder, not fidget and that kind of thing.”The hard work paid off Dec. 12 when Guadalupe and Nye stood before a roomful of teacher Ted Wilton’s students at Roseburg High School.
Nye began with a picture of how big the problem of AIDS is in Africa.
“The amount of people living in Africa with AIDS is the population of the following states combined,” he said, then read a list: Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Nevada.
Then Guadalupe brought the numbers closer to home.
“AIDS in Africa kills more than 6,000 people a day,” she said. “Six thousand. That’s more than wars and famine combined. That’s one-fourth of Roseburg gone in one day.”
Nye and Guadalupe talked about the organizations trying to help, from government aid agencies to nonprofits like Doctors Without Borders. Then they talked about the orphanage where they’ll stay from April 7 to May 2.
<b>PASSING ON THE DREAM</b>
“This is inspiring,” Wilton told them. “I just think you guys are right on the mark.”
Then he turned to his own students.
“Would something like this be of interest to any of you students?” he said.
The room came alive with chatter.
“RHS could do this trip,” Nye said.
“I think anything’s possible,” Wilton said, “because you guys have proved it. You guys are walking, talking, living it.”
And that’s part of the point.
“The one question I have from people is: Why?” Jackson said. “Because there are so many problems here in Douglas County, why do you have to go all the way to Africa?
“But it’s about making a dream come true,” she continued. “I’ve noticed ... with my students that some of them are kind of scared to dream because they’re afraid that they’ll get crushed or they’ll be afraid that they’ll never be able to achieve that.”
It’s also encouraging volunteerism at home. Some Phoenix students have questioned the value of going so far away, so Jackson challenged them to do more at home. One of them is now serving at a soup kitchen, along with Nye.
“You know that saying, ‘Think globally, act locally,’” Jackson said. “We’re thinking globally and we’re acting globally, but the ultimate goal is to act locally, too.”
• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.
<b>RAISING FUNDS</b>
Guadalupe and Nye have both put some of their own money toward the trip. Guadalupe had a job and is now looking for another, while Nye is working at Denny’s.
They started savings accounts through Umpqua Community Development Corp.’s DreamSavers program, where their money is matched with $2 for every $1 they save. They’ve written letters and applied for grants.
They sell candy and 50-50 raffle tickets every day at school, and Phoenix students are contributing change and helping with other fundraisers, even though they don’t benefit from the project.
In March, Wildlife Safari will host a fundraiser with African cuisine and a showing of the film, “Invisible Children.”
<b>GETTING AN EDUCATION</b>
Jackson and McGregor were determined that going to Tanzania would be more than volunteering or tourism.
So Nye and Guadalupe have been researching Africa in general and Tanzania in particular, and they’re starting to learn Swahili so they can communicate. They volunteer once a week at the Boys & Girls Club so they can learn how to work with children. They’re writing blogs on a Web site, and they’ll continue to do so during the trip. Nye and McGregor are planning to make a film, too.
The students have spent countless hours on a PowerPoint presentation they’ve shown at Phoenix and other schools.
Before they faced an audience, however, they had to take criticism from McGregor.
“We had a lot of good training from Thomas and Jenn,” Nye said, “very nitpicky. We have to look straight at the crowd, just little things like that.”
“More eye contact,” Guadalupe added, “speak louder, not fidget and that kind of thing.”The hard work paid off Dec. 12 when Guadalupe and Nye stood before a roomful of teacher Ted Wilton’s students at Roseburg High School.
Nye began with a picture of how big the problem of AIDS is in Africa.
“The amount of people living in Africa with AIDS is the population of the following states combined,” he said, then read a list: Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Nevada.
Then Guadalupe brought the numbers closer to home.
“AIDS in Africa kills more than 6,000 people a day,” she said. “Six thousand. That’s more than wars and famine combined. That’s one-fourth of Roseburg gone in one day.”
Nye and Guadalupe talked about the organizations trying to help, from government aid agencies to nonprofits like Doctors Without Borders. Then they talked about the orphanage where they’ll stay from April 7 to May 2.
<b>PASSING ON THE DREAM</b>
“This is inspiring,” Wilton told them. “I just think you guys are right on the mark.”
Then he turned to his own students.
“Would something like this be of interest to any of you students?” he said.
The room came alive with chatter.
“RHS could do this trip,” Nye said.
“I think anything’s possible,” Wilton said, “because you guys have proved it. You guys are walking, talking, living it.”
And that’s part of the point.
“The one question I have from people is: Why?” Jackson said. “Because there are so many problems here in Douglas County, why do you have to go all the way to Africa?
“But it’s about making a dream come true,” she continued. “I’ve noticed ... with my students that some of them are kind of scared to dream because they’re afraid that they’ll get crushed or they’ll be afraid that they’ll never be able to achieve that.”
It’s also encouraging volunteerism at home. Some Phoenix students have questioned the value of going so far away, so Jackson challenged them to do more at home. One of them is now serving at a soup kitchen, along with Nye.
“You know that saying, ‘Think globally, act locally,’” Jackson said. “We’re thinking globally and we’re acting globally, but the ultimate goal is to act locally, too.”
• You can reach reporter Teresa Williams at 957-4230 or via e-mail at twilliams@newsreview.info.
